Analysis and optimisation of titanium alloy sandwich structures for thermal protection

The heat transfer through additively manufactured Ti–6Al–4V sandwich structures has been investigated by simulating a one-dimensional multi-layer transient problem for heat fluxes up to 100 kW m^-2 . A previously published model for graded titanium foam insulation has been adapted, and its performance was validated experimentally for the additively manufactured titanium alloy samples. The optimal solidity distribution to minimise the peak temperature for a transient heat flux has been produced for a given sample mass and total thickness. The optimal distribution consists of three layers: the two outer layers are solid, the middle layer has the lowest possible solidity, and most of the material is distributed furthest from the applied heat flux.